


You Save Me Too

by Ea4g



Category: Cloak & Dagger (Comics), Cloak & Dagger (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Billy is Bi, F/M, Growing Up Together, If you only read one work by me, Multi, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Trigger Warning: Probably Everything, Tryone is Tandy's Comfort Thing, Waffle Babies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-02-16 17:28:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18696043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ea4g/pseuds/Ea4g
Summary: “I should dearly love that the world should be ever so little better for my presence. Even on this small stage we have our two sides, and something might be done by throwing all one’s weight on the scale of breadth, tolerance, charity, temperance, peace, and kindliness to man and beast. We can’t all strike very big blows, and even the little ones count for something.” – Sir Arthur Conan DoyleOR: What would have happened if the oil rig was just an oil rig? Yes, the title and this story absolutely was inspired scenes from the show.





	1. Something Off My Chest

_“Ty”_

_“Tyrone”_

_“Tyrone. Wake up.”_

Tyrone Johnson came slowly awake and blinked stupidly at the little girl crouching over his chest shaking his shoulders. As reality crept back into his mind he could put a name to the pale face looking down at him and he began internally kicking himself for inviting its owner to sleepover in his new house in the first place.

“Tandy,” Tyrone’s voice slurred the name, still muzzy from sleep. “Why are you awaaaaaaaake?”

Having gotten a the reaction she was after from the sleeping boy, Tandy stopped shaking his shoulders and plopped her butt down on his chest. Tyrone, all 8 years old of him, tried to squirm out from under her but they'd been through this song and dance before. Even if he were fully awake he wouldn't have been going anywhere.

Embarrassing, but it had taught him not to make fun of ballerinas.

Blinking his vision clear, Ty got a good look at his little blonde assailant. Her fair face was blotchy, her hair was a frizzy mess and her eyes were red. It didn't take a genius to tell she'd been crying.

"Bad dream." Tandy said before he could ask.

That and her brittle tone of voice cut off any desire Tyrone had to complain about being woken up. He'd had plenty of those since _The Night_ , mainly featuring him not getting to his brother in time and the bullet hitting Billy's heart instead of his shoulder. It hadn't really occurred to him before now that Tandy might be going through the same thing.

Ty pushed himself up on his arms. Tandy wasn't actually trying to hold him down so it wasn't a problem moving her seat from Ty's chest to his legs. From there he was allowed to slide his knees out from under her until they were both positioned facing eachother with their legs tucked underneath them. Tandy's PJs were palest pink flannel pants with cows jumping over moons and a white shirt with a glittery shooting star on the front. Tyrone just had an black hand-me-down t-shirt that was so big the hem came down to his knees.

Focusing again on her face, Tyrone wasn't sure if doing what his mom always did for him when he had a bad dream was okay. She was still a _girl_ , even if she did get him to acknowledge she was cool. After a few seconds of thinking he settled on a compromise, pulling up the words his Mom always used while she rubbed his shoulders.

"You wanna talk about it?"

Usually this was where he'd say "No". Boys don't talk about feelings. Ty wasn't all that clear on why not, but it was just one of the rules. He did not, however, count on Tandy not knowing that. It was just one of those thing that everybody was supposed to know. So he wasn't prepared when she said, "I stole you hoodie."

"You stole my...!" Tyrone began to raise his voice, but was quickly cut off by Tandy's hand coming up over his mouth.

"Shhhhh" she hissed, pressing the pointer finger of her other hand to her lips. It was still the middle of the night at least, not the time to make noise even if Ty's parents were still out.

Tyrone couldn't help but flick his eyes over to his closet and ... yep, the dark hoodie was still there hanging from his closet door knob.

" _It was in my dream_." Tandy explained, still in a forceful whisper. The whole story spilled out of her all at once and her hand was still over Tyrone's mouth as if she was afraid of being interrupted again. "I stole your hoodie from you on the beach and Billy didn't find us and then the Roxxon people took our house and Mommy got mean and..."

Tyrone saw what little white had come back to her face was turning red again and she was panting around the words as they came out. Talking about it wasn't helping her, it was only working her up to cry again. And Tyrone really didn't want Tandy to cry.

Not really thinking he grabbed at the hand still over his mouth and moved it and her other hand down to either side of her, holding her forearms while her palms lay flat against his bedspread.

Now it was his turn to say "shhhhh" as Tandy give off tiny shakes. After a minute or two her breathing came back to normal and she used the sleeves of her pajamas to wipe the few tears that had leaked out. Now he had her on the right track, he just had to keep it going.

Tyrone hopped out of bed and tugged on Tandy's wrist to follow him. She came slowly, almost delicately putting her bare feet on the floor. From there Ty pulled gently and led Tandy out of his room, through the door she'd left open, and into the dark hall. She was slow and it kinda annoyed him until he realized that she was being slow so that their feet didn't make too much noise. Then he stopped trying to go so fast and Tandy moved a little closer to his back.

Ty led Tandy down the hall to the stairs where the only light in the house came up from the living room TV. Tyrone pulled Tandy down a few steps and then sat two steps below her. She sat too and they both pressed their faces to the railing posts so they could watch.

The sound was down pretty low so Tandy and Ty could barely hear anything from the TV even from this close. Billy and Mina were sitting next to each other on the couch in front of the TV facing away from the stairs. It was the first time Tandy or Tyrone had gotten two babysitters, but with Billy's arm still in the sling for another month and a half it was decided he need an extra set of hands to deal with two kids, each of whom was more than a double handful on their own.

Mina wasn't so bad though. She was nice. She could play any game you could think of and she made the best cookies ever. And she never asked the questions everybody else asked. Not once had Tyrone heard her say "are you okay" or any of the other zillion questions that mean the same thing. It had been a bad night for everybody, but that doesn't mean he wanted to go over it and over it again and again. The Police officers and the lawyers and the Judge had already done plenty of that to both of them.

 _The Night_ had only been three weeks ago and this was the first time in ages Ty had seen something close to normal, friends over and his parents out for something other than an emergency. Ty had done something stupid and tried to break into a car to steal a stereo Billy had been supposed to take. He'd screwed it up though and set off an alarm so he ran away as fast as he could. He'd found Billy walking home and Billy talked him down from being so scared. But then a police car showed up and Billy told him to run. They'd made it all the way to the docks before the officers caught up to them. Billy had hidden Ty behind a shipping container and gone out with his hands up where the police could see him. He'd stood on the dock's edge trying to talk them down but Ty had seen one of their hands start to tighten on their gun. He'd panicked and ran at Billy, tackling his legs and the two of them fell into the water. The gun fired twice just as Ty had gotten there and Billy got shot. The doctors said the bullet cracked his collar bone and his shoulder blade but it wasn't too bad. The second bullet had missed Billy completely when Ty tackled him and hit a car crossing the Pontchartrain Causeway. That car had Tandy Bowen in it.

The bullet hit a tire and the car went over the edge and into the water. The crash killed Mr Bowen, Tandy's Dad, and left Tandy with a big bump on her head tied up in the back seat with the car filling up with water.

Billy had managed to get his good arm tangled in the grating along the dock and pulled himself to shore, but Tyrone had ended up in deeper water trying to find Billy. Instead he'd found Tandy, who by some miracle managed to get herself untangled from her seat belt and swim through the cars' broken windshield.

That was the last thing either of them was really clear on. Billy had found them just after sunrise. Somehow they'd wash up on the beach, soaking wet and clinging to eachother, but okay. That was right about when the ambulances showed up and then it was off to the hospital for everybody

The cop who shot Billy's name was Connors and his partner, having just watched him shoot a kid and then the car crashing into the water, had been near panic and did the only thing he could think of to keep his butt out of the fire. He'd arrested Connors and pinned the whole thing on him. Then he spilled the story to the media when they came calling.

Three days later it was headline news. **Racist Cop Shoots Kid. Civilian Dead And Two 8-Year-Olds In The Hospital**.  With that much news coverage and Mina's Dad, Ivan, threatening to sue the city, Connors’ arrest had gone to court. The people who ran New Orleans still did everything they could to let Connors go free, but since Ty hadn't actually stolen anything and Tandy's Dad had died because of what Connors did there wasn't much anybody could do. Connors lost his job and got sent to jail for fifty years.

All of that had happened in three weeks and the three weeks since _The Night_ had been filled with so much. Billy was hurt, but he was still here and he didn't blame Ty for anything. His Mom and Dad had been plenty angry though, and scared of what would happen to them now that they'd been made the center of attention. They'd moved out of their old house and into this new place really quick. It was bigger and fancier, but it just didn't feel like his home yet. Pretty soon there'd be a new school and new people and everything was changing so fast all because of _That One Night_.

But this new place wasn't too far from where Tandy lived.

Tandy was the only really good thing to come out of his stupid mistake. The first full day after the everything had them in hospital beds next to each other wearing silly gowns that didn’t cover their butts while doctors ran tests trying to find out anything that could have been wrong with them.

There wasn't much else to do but share the misery.

Right after that the lawyers said Tandy and him couldn't talk to anybody about what happened. Ty had been scared that Billy blamed him for everything and his Mom and Dad were too busy and too mad to talk to. That hadn't left anybody but Tandy to talk to.

They'd been talking a lot. It felt good to have somebody around who really knew everything.

She was really sad about her Dad though. Thinking about him made her cry a lot. Ty could understand. He'd probably cry too if Billy had died that night.

It felt almost like she should hate him, like it was all his fault. And he'd told her so more than once. But she didn't. Even when he made her cry. Tandy crying was bad. Something that shouldn't happen.

He and Billy had gone with Tandy and Mrs. Bowen to the funeral, that's where they'd met Ivan and Mina. Ivan was there to give a speech about what a good guy Mr Bowen was. But something had happened with Mrs. Bowen. Tandy wasn't sure what it was, but there was something about bruises on her Mom's arm. It looked like Mr. Bowen hadn't been very nice to her and he'd hit her more than once.

That was another rule Tyrone was sure everybody know. You didn't ever hit a girl. Even when she pinned you to the ground and sat on you in front of her whole ballet class. You just didn't do it. That was just supposed to be obvious.

Ivan was nice though, like Mina. He'd gotten Tandy's Dad's old job and he'd used the company, Roxxon, to push for Connors's trial and to make it happen really fast. Didn't like being called Mr. Hess. Always just Ivan. He kept calling Tandy “Tandy-Dandy”, which she said didn’t like but always made her smile and giggle anyway. He was smart too, way smarter than anybody Ty'd ever met before. Mina said all her book came from him and she shared all her books with Tandy and Ty when they asked.

Tyrone jerked out of his head when he felt a cold finger touch the side of his neck. On instinct he clamped down and the finger with his head and his eyes flicked up to find the finger’s owner.

Tandy was looking down at Ty and she was shaking with bottled up giggles. After she removed her finger from Ty’s neck she pointed at the living room while pressing her other pointer finger to her lips.

Ty looked and immediately saw what was so funny. Billy was trying to be cool again.

As far as Ty was concerned, Billy was the coolest guy in the world. Except when he was trying to be. Then it’s just sad.

When he was just talking normal and serious, not trying, he was smoother than anybody. But when he tried to seem cool he came off way too strong. The people he’d be talking to would lean away and give him a look like they were talking to a crazy person, and it only got worse from there. And it was especially bad around a pretty girl or a hot guy.

Now Billy wasn’t even talking but somehow it was worse than anything Ty’d ever seen him get into before. He was probably go for the classic move where the guy smoothly puts an arm around the girls shoulders. What he was actually managing was something a little like a video Ty’d seen of a kitten trying to touch a potted cactus. Funny and painful to look at all at the same time.

Ty had to bite his tongue not to laugh. He and Tandy looked at eachother again, not talking to make sure nobody knew they were there, but both clearly thinking _Dear God, what is wrong with him_. Clearly it was getting on Mina’s nerves too, ‘cause after about twelve rounds of the _will Billy actually touch her_ game she grabbed his hand and pulled his arm to lie across her shoulders.

Ty and Tandy stopped laughing and their eyes got big as the watched. Billy’s face was hard to see in the dark with the only light coming from the TV. But his head was turned towards Mina and it didn’t look like he was blinking. Mina just sat there for a few seconds, then she scooted closer and leaned into Billy. Snuggling into him.

Tandy and Ty shared another look, this one saying _Ew Gross_. Ty had known for a while now that his brother was as sick with the “Hug and Kiss” fever as any other teenager, but this was the most up-close look he’d gotten at the sickness in action. Clearly Tandy wasn’t a fan either, even though Ty always thought girls liked this sort of thing.

But they didn’t move or stop watching. Ty wasn’t even sure what was on the TV. They just sat there on the stairs with their heads stuck between the railings. They didn’t move or talk or really look at eachother again. They just sat.

" _Thanks Ty_." Tandy whispered then. " _This is nice. I’m sorry I woke you up._ ”

Ty didn’t really know how to respond for a second. He’d almost completely forgotten why they’d come down here in the first place. Now he remembered he’d actually been aiming for the kitchen to get her some milk (and a chocolate if he could find them) before they’d gotten distracted by the Billy and Mina show.

But this worked too and he sure wasn’t going to tell her this hadn’t been his idea.

" _I've had dreams too._ " Tyrone whispered back, not really thinking about what he was saying.

Then she was hugging him. Ty was suddenly really glad she was the only friend he had here because if anybody saw a girl hugging him, worse, that he was letting her, he'd never hear the end of it. He squirmed a little in her grip, but not a lot. It felt kinda nice. Better than hugs from his Mom.

Maybe this is why Mina moved closer when Billy had his arm around her.

Headlights were  shining through the window and then turned as the car they were attached to pulled into the driveway. Tyrone's parents were back.

Tandy pulled away from Ty, but grabbed ahold of his wrist and started pulling him back up the stairs. They were moving fast this time, their feet muffled by the car noises, and they both piled into Tyrone's bedroom quick as they could.

A few minutes later they heard voices downstairs. The words were muffled, but the voices belonged to Tyrone’s Mom and Dad. They, Billy and Mina traded muffled sentences back and forth for a minute then there was the distinct _thump thump thump_ and _clack clack clack_ of a pair of flats and a pair of heals making their way up the stairs.

Tandy and Ty didn’t think or talk, they just dove into Tyrone’s bed. They scrambled under the covers and pulled them over eachother once they were both lying on their sides face to face. Tandy’s left hand was still holding on to Ty’s right wrist, but there was no time to worry about that now. All he could do was clamp his eyes shut and pretend with all his might that he was asleep and hope that Tandy would know to play along.

The door clicked and it opened just a crack. Light spilled in from the hall, but Ty was lying facing away from the door, so he didn’t have to worry about light making his eyes twitch and giving the game away. There was a sound like a low pitch giggle that might have come from his Mom that was quickly muffled. A few quiet whispers came that Ty couldn’t really make out, though he was pretty sure he heard the words “so cute”. The door closed after a few more seconds with a quiet click.

Tyrone opened his eyes to find Tandy's looking back at him. Tyrone let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. He didn’t hear Tandy do the same though, and that’s when he realized his mistake. Holding his breath was a dead giveaway. If he’d really been sleeping he’d have been breathing normal. Tandy had known better.

Over the last few weeks Tandy had proved she was much better at being sneaky than he was. One of the ways they’d distracted themselves from how sad and scared they were in the hospital and in court was to come up with all sorts of ways to play funny pranks or snag sweets from grownups. Tandy always pointed out the best ways to get what they wanted even if they never actually did anything.

Now they just looked at eachother for a few second. If she got up and went back to the guestroom now his parents would realized it was all an act and they’d get in trouble for being up late. But Ty was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to have a girl in his bed either. Even on sleepovers somebody always took the floor. They never shared a bed.

Tandy didn’t seem to have a problem with it though. She just rearranged herself to get a bit more comfortable and closed her eyes again.

“G’night Tyty.” she muttered dreamily. After a few seconds Tyrone just followed her example and got back into the spot he’d been sleeping in before Tandy came in.

“Good night Tandy.”

She didn’t let go of his arm. Ty couldn’t bring himself to care all that much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned. There's gonna be more. Not sure about an over arching plot though. Just them dealing with stuff and getting closer.


	2. Can't Take Me Anywhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 8 Years Later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took two months  
> Good News: I've decided on a direction for the plot.  
> Suffer and enjoy the cuteness

Tandy always felt like dancing is feeling in motion. In Ballet she feels like she's gone and someone else is in her skin, elegant and graceful. 

But this isn't Ballet, this is just silly.

  _[♫What I want, you've got♫](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs) _  
_[♫And it might be hard to handle♫](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs) _  
_[♫Like a flame that burns the candle♫](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs) _  
_[♫The candle feeds the flame, ooh, yeah, yeah♫](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs) _  
_[♫What I got, full stock of thoughts and dreams that scatter♫](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs) _  
_[♫You can pull them all together♫](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs) _  
_[♫And how? I can't explain, oh, yeah♫](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs) _

_[♫Oh, well, you (Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)♫](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs) _  
_[♫You make my dreams come true (You, you), yeah♫](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs) _  
_[♫Well, well, well, you (Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)♫](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs) _  
_[♫You make my dreams come true♫](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs) _  
_[♫(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh), oh yeah♫](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs) _

Tyrone pulled Tandy back to him then spun her out as she did the same to him. They both ended up with their free arms flung wide while the other kept them linked together. They broke apart for the next verse, which mainly involved moving their fists and shoulders rhythmically while doing they best not to knock anything over. Ty was smiling so wide Tandy would be almost worried for his health if she knew she was smiling just as wide.

Friday night. Time to ring in the weekend with their traditional dinner and video games and/or movie-marathon. They'd pass out around midnight-ish then wake up to hot waffles and an all-day lounge-fest in their treehouse reading/rereading old comics or books and making their famous Saturday night s'mores. Sundays Tandy had Ballet and then interning with Mina, so they wouldn't get as much time as they used to have. But that was life. You made adjustments.

Tandy was well aware that they were being the absolute dorkiest right now, dancing around in the kitchen while they made pizza. But how could they not? They were playing their song.

[ _♫On a night when bad dreams become a screamer♫_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs)  
[_♫When they're messin' with the dreamer♫_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs)  
[_♫I can laugh it in the face (Ooh, ooh, ooh)♫_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs)  
[_♫Twist and shout my way out♫_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs)  
[_♫And wrap yourself around me♫_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs)  
[_♫'Cause I ain't the way you found me♫_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs)  
[_♫And I'll never be the same, oh, yeah♫_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs)

[ _♫Well, well, you (Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)♫_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs)  
[_♫You make my dreams come true (Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh), yeah♫_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs)  
[_♫Well, well, well, you (Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh), aw yeah, hey♫_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs)  
[_♫You make my dreams come true, yeah (Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)♫_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs)  
[_♫Oh yeah♫_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL-Yp-ikLs)

The night had started out like this. Tandy had wanted to order a pizza but they'd already done that 3 times this week and Tandy's Mom said if they kept it up they'd both get fat. That was her story anyway, and she was sticking to it. Never mind that Tyrone played on the Basketball Team and Tandy was at Ballet practice almost every other day, neither of which were exactly light workouts. Tandy was pretty sure she just didn't like the smell.

Anyway, so they'd been strictly told by both Ty's parents and her Mom that they were not allowed to order any more pizza, but they hadn't said one word about making it themselves. Both Tandy and Tyrone had gotten to be pretty good in the kitchen with Mina to help teach them. Neither of them could even touch her cookies, which had somehow gotten even better over the years. But pizza was something they could pull off almost as well as Mina if they worked together, even if Ty insisted or ruining his half of the thing with pineapple.

Ty danced his way over to the bag of union slices and started tossing the last pinches of the vegetables over the dough while Tandy checked the oven. The thermometer said it was ready to go, so she opened the door wide and pirouetted herself out of the way of the blast of hot air that accompanied it. Ty, ever prepared, scooped up the pizza with the peel and slid it onto the waiting pan before gently closing the door with his foot.

The song finished on its distinctive final chord as Ty stood up and the duo exchanged high-fives.

"How long to cook again?" Tandy asked.

"13 Minutes." Ty said, punching the number into the oven timer. They'd gotten this down to a science by now. Tandy was a born chemist, as Mina always put it, so naturally she was the best and knowing what foods went where and with what on their pizza. Ty was better with numbers and measuring though, so time (and reminding her to eat on occasion) was his job. As always, their lives were much easier when they worked together.

Ty went back over to the fridge and reached out his hand towards Tandy. Tandy, being way ahead of him as always, already had the various tupperwares and jars of food stuffs ready to go and promptly handed him the thing of cheese.

"What do you want to drink?" Ty asked once everything was put away. "We got Orange Juice, milk, there's a can of coke somewhere in here I think."

Tandy's lips quirked up as an idea for some fun sparked in her fertile imagination.

"Or..."

"No." Ty cut in, closing the fridge door to look at Tandy. "No or. We are not messing with my parents' wine again. Last time I let you get drunk you jumped through a closed window and tried to steal a car."

"Let?" Tandy crossed her arms and raised a perfect (if she did say so herself) blond eyebrow. "Since when do you _let_ me do anything?"

"Since the day after we met, remember."

He did have a point, as little as Tandy wanted to admit it. Tyrone Johnson was her own personal Jiminy Cricket. The soft little voice on her shoulder telling her when something fun was also bad or dangerous.

Which was pretty weird when you think about it, since they night they met he was trying to steal something. Ironic.

"Good, 'cause if you're responsible for me then I get to blame you for that broken window and..."

"You sure you want to finish that sentence?" a voice came from behind Tandy.

She spun around to see Adina Johnson standing in the kitchen doorway, glamorous somehow even in a plumb colored track suit. She was trying to look stern, but Tandy could see her mouth tugging at her control, wanting to be a smile. There was a laugh in her eyes too, so Tandy wasn't exactly worried that she'd have to deal with Counselor Johnson.

"Hey Mom." Ty said, trying to defuse the tension he felt in the room. Ty wasn't nearly as good reading people as Tandy was, though he was freakishly good at knowing when people were scared.

"Ty." Adina turned her gaze and crossed her arms to look at her son. "Is there any particular reason I should be worried about broken windows or stolen cars?"

"No Mam."

 Adina eyed him for a minute before satisfying herself he was being sincere, finally allowing the smile to come through a little. With that she picked a banana off the kitchen counter and walked into the living room.

"You're lucky you're good for him." Adina said, pointing the banana at Tandy for emphasis.

Tandy and Ty met and held gases until Adina's footsteps faded out of earshot. Then they broke as the pair broke down into quiet giggles, loosing themselves for a minute in the strange night that had almost come back to haunt them just then. Going to that party in the woods had been a bad idea, but Tandy knew Evita was gonna be there, so convincing Ty wasn't hard. Getting drunk and going nuts hadn't exactly been the game plan, but Ty had been there to catch her as always. And it was a funny story in hindsight.

Straitening up, Ty opened the fridge again and pulled out the soda cans while Tandy went to go get plates.

"Billy gonna be stealing any of our za tonight?" Tandy asked.

"Nope." said Ty. "He's taking Mina out tonight. Like, way out. Like, got a hotel room out."

Tandy put their plates down on the counter and grinned so all her teeth were showing.

"So it's that kinda night huh? Well, better than the alternative. Wouldn't want a repeat of the incident would we."

Ty smiled even as his eyes squeezed shut and he groaned in mock pain. A few years ago he'd accidentally walked in on Billy and Mina when they'd forgotten to lock the door. The image was permanently seared into Tyrone's memory so, of course, Tandy made a point of bringing it up whenever she could.

"Why do you do this to me Tan?"

"What can I say. I exist to cause you pain."

Ty mock glared and pointed at her. "You're a menace. You know that?"

"Oh you luv me." Tandy stuck her tongue out at Ty and he just rolled his eyes.

The oven timer went off just then. Tandy picked up the peel from where Tyrone left on the counter. The smell of baking bread, cheese and their various toppings filled the kitchen as Ty opened the door for her. Their masterpiece was done.

* * *

Tandy woke up to a very familiar feeling. Being cushioned by her own personal marshmallow.

To be fair, Ty wasn't built like a marshmallow at all. He was ridiculously fit from first their middle school track team and the last two years on the basketball court. But underneath all that nothing could be more unlike Tyrone.

It was stuff like that that really made them seem like a study in opposites. There were the obvious things of course. He was Black and she was White, he was tall and she was small. But it went deeper than anybody seamed to realize at first glance. He was tough on the outside but very squishy inside. She. on the other hand, was softer on the outside but inside- tough.

Tandy just thought it was cool how the early light played off his umber skin next to her ivory.

Anyone who saw them right now who didn't know either of them could be forgiven for thinking they'd walked in on a private moment. Tandy was dressed in her favorite pajamas, which were just her underwear under Ty's old hoodie she'd eventually gotten him to give her. She still considered that day her best use of her patented Puppy Eyes in her entire life.

Ty wasn't any more covered than she was, only wearing some soft sleep shorts and a thin shawl across his bare chest. They'd both passed out on the couch with Tandy practically in Ty's lap, and as it was they were pretty tangled in each other's limbs. If it were anyone other than her and if this were anybody other than Ty, Tandy knew this'd be a _thing_. The kind of thing that makes those other girls at school blush and giggle like their brains were rebooting.

As it was, Tandy wasn't going to mention this to anybody. She'd made the mistake of telling Mina about finally getting Ty to give her his Hoodie and she hadn't shut up about it for a week. Even now she couldn't bring it into the lab without her boss mercilessly teasing her about it. Everybody expected her to turn around and fall in love with her best friend. Well she hated to disappoint (no she didn't), but that was never gonna happen.

As to why she and Ty slept like this, it's just nice okay. Ty is soothing. Unless he's mad his voice is always so soft and he'd hum her to sleep when they did this. They slept together most nights, benefits of living three blocks away from eachother. When they couldn't get away with it they'd talk on the phone 'till they passed out.

Ty's arm twitched and Tandy lifted her eyes to his face. It was almost like watching a computer startup sequence. She could practically see the little lights coming on inside his brain as the day shift took over from the nightwatch, everything waking inside his head. Then Ty's eyes opened and he groaned and stretched under her.

"What time is it?" he asked groggily. That reminded Tandy of something, but she soon forgot it as she turned her eyes to the time display of the Cable box.

"7:15" she said, crossing her arms across Tyrone's chest and leaning her head on them. "S’Too early. Go back to sleep."

She could practically hear Tyrone rolling his eyes at that. Tyrone was one of those rare freaks of natures called a "Morning Person". To him getting up any later than 8 was "wasting a perfectly good day". And so it meant even on their days off Tyrone would have her up and moving as early as he could get away with which, by total happenstance, was as late as Tandy could get away with.

Ty planted his feet on the floor properly and Tandy felt his muscles flex in preparation for getting up.

"Alright, I'm gonna get breakfast started." Tandy took that as her cue to clamp her arms around him harder and not let him up when he tried to push her off. She was grinning madly now, but careful to look away. They'd been playing this game since they were kids and even now that she had to look up to see his eyes, he still could never manage to get her off him when she sat and/or lay on top of him.

And today was no exception.

After a few seconds of struggling, Tyrone just gave up as always and looked at her.

"Tandy, I'm hungry. I know you are too. How am I supposed to make breakfast if I'm stuck under you?"

"Improvise." Tandy responded, putting her head down on his shoulder and faining lethargy for all she was worth. "My pillow. Not leaving."

Ty just sighed and played his trump card.

"There's fresh strawberries in the fridge."

"Ooo!" Tandy's head shot up at that. She loved strawberries. "You didn't tell me there were strawberries last night. We could have had some on the za."

"Then we wouldn't have any for the rest of the week." Ty said maturely as he finally succeeded at getting Tandy to let him up. It was Tandy's turn to roll her eyes, but she knew he was probably right. She did have a bit of a tendency to pig out on strawberries.

Ty was getting to his feet and pulling on a t-shirt as he started around the couch towards the kitchen.

"You want Pancakes or Waffles?" he called over his shoulder to her.

"Waffles!" she yelled at the kitchen as she grabbed a pair of sweats to put on. "Duh!"

"Right! Dumb Question! My bad!" Ty replied over the clatter and beeping of the waffle iron.

* * *

"And the King gave to the judge his crown and scepter and he said 'To you I give the rule of law and stewardship over this land. But I command you, and those who come after you, never to act on your own, only to react to what others do.' Then the King turned to the mayor and gave him a scroll and his own writing quill and he said 'To you I give power to change this land with your words. But I command you, and those who come after you, to never lie or mislead others.' And lastly the King turned to the solder and gave her his shield and his bag of tricks and he said 'To you I give the means to protect this land and those who live in it against any threat. But I command you, and those who come after you, to... to..."

Ty broke off, closing his eyes and trying desperately to finish the quote. But after about a minute of gnashing his teeth he lowered his chin to his color bone and sighed, giving up.

"Ha!" Tandy cheered, lifting both her fists in the air over her head and bumped her hips to the right. "I Win! Yes!"

"Hey," Tyrone called, one finger raised. "You only win if you can finish it."

Tandy just gave a smug little grin. They both knew it was a technicality, especially since Ty had managed most of the paragraph already.

"'But I command you, and those who come after you, to never use those means against those who you protect.'"

Ty gritted his teeth and gave an irritated growl, but it was one that told Tandy he was just being dramatic and was happy she'd won.

Tandy did a little celebratory skip down the street. Downtown New Orleans was always a fun place to visit on their days off, even if it did cut into their limited time. Still, trips to the book store or comic shops were almost never a waste of time.

Neither was another round of their quote game. Whoever could finish the quote won and Ty beat her last time with that stupid [_Clockwork Orange_ rhyme](https://66.media.tumblr.com/c74ec29cf83408c085ce75cb5e273b8f/tumblr_ph9tnfpsro1rrqi2zo1_500.png). But Tandy was the queen of fantasy and this was her domain. Not even Tyrone, who spent half his time with her talking about high fantasy lore, could beat her at this.

"Your ass is mine next time." Ty threatened. "Hope you're up to speed on your Salinger."

Tandy let all the humor drop out of her expression.

"Ty I swear to God, if you make me read that book one more time..."

Tyrone just laughed, which Tandy knew he would which is exactly why she played along. It wasn't an official rule, but the unwritten rule said they could only use _good_ books for the game.

But what's better than getting a smile out of a way to serious friend?

Still, some retribution was called for for tarnishing her victory.

"Oh, hi Evie." Tandy said, looking at an empty spot over Ty's shoulder and waving at nothing.

Ty, being Ty and way too predictable, turned quickly looking for Evita. He tripped over his own big feet and nearly fell on his ass for his trouble. Tandy grabbed his arm at the last second and helped him catch his balance, all while laughing at the success of her revenge.

"Dude, you suck." Tandy, still chuckling. "At least Clark had the excuse of Lana Lang wearing a kryptonite necklace. You can't even keep it together hearing her name. How will you survive your first date?'

Ty straightened his jacket with as much dignity as he could have under the circumstance before answering. "Which is why I'm not gonna ask her out."

"Oh come on!" Tandy hated it when Tyrone got all morose on her. "Ty, you've had a crush on Evita Fusilier since the seventh grade. You promised me you were gonna make a move. Now grow a pair and do it already. You know she'll say yes."

"No Tandy. I don't know that. Even if I can manage to get the words out in a voice loud enough to actually be heard..."

Ty did have a problem of his voice getting too quiet to hear when he got nervous.

"...what if she say's 'No'. I've never managed to ask out any girl ever. I don't even know how to talk to a girl."

"Hey! I'm a girl."

"No, you're a Tandy. That's completely different."

Tandy gave a harrumph and crossed her arms. Then she got a little nervous as a grin slowly spread across Tyrone's expressive face.

"And you know..."

"Ty Don't!"

_♫"The wonderful thing about Tandies,♫_

_♫"Is Tandies are wonderful thing."♫_

Tandy immediately grabbed hold of Tyrone and started to shake him. He was still trying to get out the next lines of that stupid song she ripped off when she was little and made him learn the first year of their friendship. Thankfully weren't coherent around the laughter bubbling out of his mouth, so Tandy didn't need to worry about anyone hearing him. But still, she had to make it stop.

_♫"But the most wonderful thing about Tandies is you're the only one.♫_

_♫"YOOOOOOOOOOU'RE, the only one!"♫_

She punched him in the arm.

Hard.

And she knew it hurt him.

It didn't shut him up though. He kept chuckling even as he rubbed the spot on his forearm.

"You really shouldn't antagonize the one person alive who has all the dirt on you."

It was Tandy's turn to roll her eyes.  They hadn't had a real fight...ever now that she thought about it. They more play argued and teased eachother and everything was forgiven and forgotten after a good night’s sleep. Preferably in the same room.

"Are you really not gonna ask Evie out?" Tandy asked after a they walked a few paces in silence.

Ty looked down at the sidewalk like he hoped the answer was written on it.

"I don't know Tan. Why if we don't work. I mean, you're probably right, she'd say yes but what if it's just us that's the problem. I don't really know all that much about her except what you've gotten for me. She hates her job, she wants to be a doctor, she wants out of New Orleans, she has _plans_. I still have to ask what kind of breakfast to make in the morning. We don't exactly have a lot in common."

That was Tandy's cue. Ty's job was keeping her sane and calm and out of trouble. Tandy's job was keeping Ty sane and calm and out of the boring rut his parents probably want for him. Now was more about the first two things.

Tandy gently bumped her shoulder into him.

"What's so terrible about that?" she asked, and when she had his attention she kept going.

"Let me let you in on a little secret. No girl wants to date themselves. And if they're smart, which I know for a fact Evita is, they look for someone who'd actually add something to their lives they don't already have. And you have got a whole lot to offer."

Ty got that look on his face that kids get when they're being complimented by their parents. Glad at the praise, but sure it's all completely untrue.

"Yeah, like what?"

"Well, easy access to me and all my many awesome qualities for a start."

That got a laugh and a reality check that Tandy was absolutely not just being nice here. Tandy wasn't the type to just be nice for niceness sake. She meant what she said and she said what she meant. Always.

"Then there's unfiltered time with the bravest, kindest and wisest guy I have ever known to exists." Tandy jumped back in to her goal, ready to swing with both fists now. "Seriously Ty. You’ve jumped head first into Lake Pontchartrain twice with no idea if you were gonna be able to swim. How is this any scarier than that?"

Ty looked up and met Tandy's gaze with a grin.

"What would I do without you Tan?"

"Suffer in agony and die from lack of a sense of humor."

"No seriously." Tyrone kept going. "I really mean it. You are the absolute best and my life would be unlivable without you."

Tandy gave him her patented Tandy-Sly smile, the one that said she had some bit mischief in mind.

"Tyrone Johnson, comin' in all slick and sweet"

Ty just laughed and rolled his eyes at her teasing. She never let him say anything nice without poking fun.

"I can't take you anywhere, can I?"

She scrunched up her face and gave a little shake of her head as she mouthed "no" at him. This only made him laugh harder and he had to jog just a bit to catch up. Which is why Tyrone could be forgiven for not realizing she'd frozen in shock and running right into her back.

They both stumbled and had to focus on their feet to keep from falling over before they turned their attentions back to what was staring them in the face.

The massive wall of the warehouse in front of them was plastered with posters. The sheets of paper all had the faces and descriptions of girls and young Black women ranging from Tandy's age to their early twenties and all of them had big block letters saying "MISSING" on them. There had to be at least a hundred of them and all of them were painted in lurid red like someone took a paint roller to them after they'd been put up. All across the wall of posters the silhouette of a giant red bird stretched from one end to the other and from roof to ground level.

Tandy and Ty stood a stared for a minute, just looking at the solid wall of posters before turning to look at eachother. Almost in unison they took at their phones and started taking pictures. Tandy started sending those, with some fairly pointed questions, to her favorite detective's phone. It looked like their day of fun was over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll give you one hint.  
> There will be something hot to justify the rating on this thing.


End file.
